This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
All my bags are packed
I'm ready to go
I'm standin' here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye
But the dawn is breakin'
It's early morn
The taxi's waitin'
He's blowin' his horn
Already I'm so lonesome
I could die
So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
'Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go
There's so many times I've let you down
So many times I've played around
I tell you now, they don't mean a thing
Every place I go, I'll think of you
Every song I sing, I'll sing for you
When I come back, I'll bring your wedding ring
So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
'Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go
Now the time has come to leave you
One more time
Let me kiss you
Then close your eyes
And I'll be on my way
Dream about the days to come
When I won't have to leave alone
About the times, I won't have to say
Kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
'Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go
But, I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go
I'm ready to go
I'm standin' here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye
But the dawn is breakin'
It's early morn
The taxi's waitin'
He's blowin' his horn
Already I'm so lonesome
I could die
So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
'Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go
There's so many times I've let you down
So many times I've played around
I tell you now, they don't mean a thing
Every place I go, I'll think of you
Every song I sing, I'll sing for you
When I come back, I'll bring your wedding ring
So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
'Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go
Now the time has come to leave you
One more time
Let me kiss you
Then close your eyes
And I'll be on my way
Dream about the days to come
When I won't have to leave alone
About the times, I won't have to say
Kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
'Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go
But, I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go
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this is song is beautiful. no one's ever been able to capture the agony of a muscian on the road, travelling and away from the one he loves like john has.
John Denver eerily predicted his own demise with this song! SPOOKY, HUH?
@bradleyb I was thinking about this as well today.
@bradleyb "Leaving on a Jetplane" is a metaphore for every leaving of every love, including life.
I'm amazed that JD admits to fooling around on his girlfriend in a song like this.
"Hey, I'm sorry I've betrayed you so many times and I'm heading out of town again and probably will do it again. But when I come back, I'm going to settle down with you and get married. How bout it?"
THE PP&M version of this was one of my favorite songs when I was a kid, and still holds a special place in my heart. But the cheating part sure is bittersweet.
@PencilNeckedGeek I was just thinking about that line too and how it surprised me.... That line sort of pisses me off! lol<br />
@PencilNeckedGeek It is human and honest. People thought John was like arrogant or something: His heart is breaking!
This is such a mello song, and such a sad song. It makes me think of saying goodbye or moving on. I remember my uncle said they sung this song the night before his college graduation, just kept singing and singing it. What a great song for that situation.
yeah i know so many people have done this song. like peter paul and mary and yeah thats cool but no one does just as good as john. you just hear the pain in the sound. Someone once told me it was about when he was just getting started in the music world and had to be flying a lot.
The Janis Joplin version is better. It has way more emotion and captures the essence of the song. I like the less literal meaning of this song, as in I know I've done some crumbly stuff to you, and cheated, but I wasn't in the right state of mind, and still aren't. However, I will get myself together, and please wait for me, and when I do, I will devote myself to you....great song, no matter how you interpret it.
I used to think this song was pure cheese but I worked in Hong Kong for a few months and a really sad German guy put it the jukebox in a bar about 10 times in a row. Every time I hear it now it reminds me of being apart from my girlfriend sitting in a bar on the other side of the world and it cracks me up every time.
This song is self explanitory
Awww John Denver died on a plane crash. This song is soo sad. I never liked John Denver or this song until he died and my mom cried. Now I love it. F that little bitch face emo music these days. This is true.
yeah it was actually originally peter paul and marry that sang that song, and there were about a dozen of people that sang it too. that song ist just so powerful. i'm doing an exchange year right now, and it fitted for both situations, when i left my home country, and even more now that i leave from here and leaving loved ones behind, just that "i'll bring your wedding ring" part doesn't fit ;)